The Pittsburgh Steelers signed former San Diego Chargers defensive lineman Cam Thomas during the offseason and during his Friday night press conference following the selection of Notre Dame defensive end Stephon Tuitt in the scond round of the 2014 NFL Draft, defensive line coach John Mitchell was asked if Thomas still has a lot to learn.

“Cam doesn’t have to learn a lot,” said Mitchell. “At San Diego he played inside and outside. Cam is a guy that’s going to give us a few options. He can play a five, four and three technique, and at San Diego he played a lot inside as a one technique and three technique. We’ll start him off as an end and go from there, but he gives us a lot of flexibility as an end and as a nose tackle.”

By the sound of things, Thomas could quite possible start the season at one of the two defensive end spots until Tuitt is ready to take over the job. Also, now that Tuitt is on board, it probably decreases the chances that veteran defensive end Brett Keisel will be re-signed, but we probably can’t rule that option out completely just yet.

The Steelers also have young defensive ends Nick Williams and Brian Arnfelt to work with over the summer.

Needless to say, the Steelers have fully addressed the offseason losses of defensive linemen Ziggy Hood and Al Woods and we’ll have to wait a little longer to see what ultimately happens with Keisel.

Unless there is a injury at DE I don’t see Keisel being resigned now with Tuitt now on board. It’s time to move on to the youngsters in Arnfelt and N. Williams.

Axe Skot

Love Kiesel but at this point I would say it is time to move on. Great Steeler and the last member of one of the great 3-4 defensive lines of all time.

Ike Evans

Got a feeling they’re still going to draft a NT

James Kling

Heyward is ascendant. MacLendon is underrated. Cam is a versatile Al Woods type. Now Tuitt is going to be a huge presence across from Heyward. We have some developmental guys in Williams and Arnfelt coming back. And now McCullers is literally a mountain of a man.

If pressure starts up front, we’ve just stacked the deck. Run some 40 fronts with Heyward, Mac, McCullers (or Cam) and Tuitt. So much versatility. With those big boys, might not need to rely on blitzing as much, drop guys into cover.